


Truth and Treasure

by ShinySherlock



Series: English 221b [4]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: ACD Canon References, Analysis, Book: The Sign of the Four, Book: The Valley of Fear, Character Analysis, Episode: s03e03 His Last Vow, John's forgiveness was genuine, Mary's Past, Meta, Nonfiction, Sherlock Series 3 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 07:51:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4092940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinySherlock/pseuds/ShinySherlock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So. I have complicated feelings about Mary and I’ve been trying to find a theory that makes sense, has some basis in ACD canon, and explains how John might genuinely forgive her and accept her. It took me almost two years. And what I’ve come up with still doesn’t explain why Mary shot Sherlock, but maybe someone will read this and help that particular puzzle piece fit as well.   </p><p>Okay, first thing, if you straight-up hate Mary, this is not the meta for you. If you’re not happy with her, questioning her, ambivalent about her, or a fan of her, then this meta might be up your alley.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Truth and Treasure

So. I have complicated feelings about Mary and I’ve been trying to find a theory that makes sense, has some basis in ACD canon, and explains how John might genuinely forgive her and accept her. It took me almost two years. And what I’ve come up with still doesn’t explain why Mary shot Sherlock, but maybe someone will read this and help that particular puzzle piece fit as well.   

Okay, first thing, if you straight-up hate Mary, this is not the meta for you. If you’re not happy with her, questioning her, ambivalent about her, or a fan of her, then this meta might be up your alley.

Also, hella spoilers for Sherlock series 3 and the two ACD novels _The Valley of Fear_ and _The Sign of Four_.

My usual meta caveats apply: I write meta to investigate ideas. I come from a grad lit program background, and in that setting, it doesn’t matter what the author intended--it only matters what you can successfully argue using the text. So we could all write different theories and all still be “right,” in this context, anyway. If you have a different theory, pull up a chair. Let’s chat. I aim to open the discussion, not shut it down.

I am building this meta from two main sources: [finalproblem’s theory that BBC!Mary is based on ACD’s Birdy Edwards from _The Valley of Fear_](http://finalproblem.tumblr.com/post/91922571645/down-in-the-valley), and my recent re-reading of _The Sign of Four_ and _The Valley of Fear_.

**Mary/Birdy**

If Mary is fashioned after Birdy Edwards, then that leads us to many possible conclusions. (I’m not going to go into establishing that here because finalproblem already did an amazing job of that in their post.)

In ACD’s _The Valley of Fear_ , Birdy Edwards, under the name of Jack McMurdo, worked undercover as a Pinkerton agent in order to bring a terrible mob boss to justice. In the course of that undercover work, Birdy, as McMurdo, did many nasty things--threatening people, beating an old man who dared to speak against the mob, witnessing (and, in my mind, facilitating) murder. As MacMurdo, Birdy is brash and violent and over the top--and he **_has to be_** to get MacGinty to trust him. Birdy’s end justifies his means--he does what he has to do to “get his man”--but the means are pretty damn shady.

Birdy probably felt MacGinty (the ruthless mob boss) deserved to die. Or deserved whatever he got. In confronting MacGinty and in testifying, Birdy was unrepentant and unafraid.

If we correlate this with what we know about Mary, we can extrapolate that Mary worked for the CIA and probably had to do many unpleasant and questionable things to accomplish her goals, and her employer’s goals. However, from Mary’s comment to John that “people like Magnussen _should_ be killed; that’s why there are people like me,” we can see that she also feels that the ends are, in her mind, worth achieving, even if it requires her to develop a kind of moral flexibility to do so.

Both Birdy and Mary work from the same place of choosing the “greater good” over the smaller number of individuals who are sacrificed along the way. I’d argue they also sacrifice a more common sense of right and wrong in order to rationalize their actions.

Birdy testifies against the mob bosses and then has to disappear and start over with a new name in order to avoid being killed in retaliation. In his new life, he falls in love, gets married, and settles down in the country. The parallel to Mary building a new identity for herself is pretty clear, and implies that she is doing so in order to protect herself, not to escape prosecution or continue a shady life of some sort; if we buy the Mary is Birdy theory, then Mary is genuinely trying to start fresh, free of her past. If you accept that premise, it follows that her relationship with John is based on genuine feelings and is not a cover, nor an elaborate attempt to trick or hurt or murder John or Sherlock.

**Mary/The Agra Treasure/AGRA**

In _The Sign of Four_ , for most of the story, there’s a treasure involved that (according to Mary’s father) will belong to Mary once it’s found. Though Watson is immediately drawn to Mary, he doesn’t make his feelings known because the treasure means that she will be of a higher socio-economic class than he is, and it would not be appropriate for him to pursue her romantically. When, at the end of the novel, they discover that the treasure is gone, Watson is happy and relieved, because it means that he and Mary are now equals as far as status. He is now free to woo her without impropriety. It's the lack of treasure that allows Watson to express his feelings and be with Mary. If they're not on the same footing, they can't be together. If they're on equal footing, then he can be free to be with her.

In ACD canon, their hurdle is about class/money. In the BBC version, it's about morality and personality.

Both BBC John and Mary have done bad things for good reasons (though it's hardly so clear cut as that for either of them). Mary's more accepting of that side of herself, it seems; she doesn’t make excuses when her secrets come out. John still believes that he's a Good Person--but it's a facade for him, too, and on some level, he knows it (though he’s astonishingly un-self-aware at times).

Mary’s dangerous/exciting past mirrors John’s (his life in the army but also his life with Sherlock pre-fall). It puts them on the same, morally-shifty ground, and reveals something more that they have in common. If this ties in with _The Sign of Four_ , then this revelation is a Good Thing because it puts them on equal footing.

BBC John and Mary do have to deal with something that ACD John and Mary didn’t, though, which is Mary concealing her past and shooting Sherlock. So John is (understandably) angry and confused.

On a side note: I still don’t get the shooting. I want it to make sense, but at this point I suspect it was, as finalproblem has discussed, the writers turning things up to 11 and involving Sherlock in the plot as much as possible.

Anyway, BBC John has to confront much more about Mary and himself than ACD Watson had to. And we don’t get to see how John goes from a state of near-rage to a place where he can openly forgive Mary and say he doesn’t need to know the details of her past (because HLV skips nearly six months between the scenes of Sherlock and John confronting Mary and John forgiving Mary).

What we do see is that, there, by the fireplace in the Holmes’ living room, John is essentially proposing to Mary again, now that he knows her (general) secret, now that they are facing each other with truer versions of themselves. He asks her if “Mary Watson” is good enough of a name for her, and this is the equivalent of asking if she wishes to take on the role of his wife. I can spin it even more romantically--he’s asking her to accept him as well, asking if she’ll choose to accept his name as her own. Even the whole exchange about who mows the lawn is an indication of John still being a slightly un-self-aware romantic and Mary being a realist (but perhaps that’s a whole other meta). At any rate, the parallel between marriage proposals in canon and BBC is there. In ACD, Watson’s proposal is more, “I don’t have any money, and now you don’t have any money, and I love you and I hope you love me.” In BBC, it’s, “You have a shady past, and I’m no angel myself, and I love you and I hope you love me.”

If you take John's reconciliation with Mary at face value and do not assume he's lying or has a hidden agenda, then what he's saying is, the past is over, the future is what I care about, and I accept you and who you are as an equal (as in I am no better or worse than you) and I don't need to know the details.

(If you don’t accept that premise and think John is shamming . . . well, that doesn’t jibe with this particular theory, so this may not be the meta you’re looking for.)

So the reconciliation between them is real and sincere, and though all the cards are hardly on the table, they are both agreeing to be together in a more honest way.

**So what does that mean for series 4?**

Who the hell knows. The _Sherlock_ writers certainly play fast and loose with canon, so any canon-based theory can only go so far. However, both Birdy Edwards and Mary Morstan die in canon, so it looks a bit grim for Mary either way.

Mary Morstan, in ACD canon, dies sometime before Holmes returns from the dead. In “The Adventure of The Empty House”, Watson mentions Holmes offering condolences on Watson’s “sad bereavement”. And that’s about it. No details on how or when she died.

At the end of _The Valley of Fear_ , Birdy Edwards and his wife try to escape Moriarty’s clutches by sailing to Africa, but Birdy ends up falling overboard and dying. Holmes is convinced Moriarty is behind Birdy’s death. If series 4 follows this scenario, then Moriarty or those loyal to him will try to kill Mary, and probably succeed.

Either way, not a happy ending.

But, as finalproblem pointed out, the odds of a fake death for Mary are also high.

The baby, of course, complicates the hell out of everything--no one wants the “answer” to be that there’s a dead child at the end of all this. So what’s the plan with the baby? I only have a few guesses that would be consistent with all of the theorizing above.

1\. Mary could die (presumably murdered) at some point after giving birth. John raises the child.

2\. Mary fakes her death and leaves the baby to be raised by John.

3\. Mary fakes her own death and the death of the child in order to escape those who would harm her. In version 3A, John is in on the plan. In version 3B, he isn’t. In version 3C, Sherlock is in on the plan and John isn’t (personally, I hate the 3B and 3C versions with the heat of a thousand suns).

4\. Mary defeats whomever is pursuing her and they all live happily ever after.

If I were to speculate further, I’d say 1 and 4 are unlikely, just from what the series focuses on and the narrative choices it has made in the past. Of the options left, I’d vote for 3A--mother and child together and safe, and John NOT lied to AGAIN. By ANYONE.

As always, ymmv.

I built this mostly as a way to get my head around series 3 that would explain as much as possible, especially how John’s forgiveness could be genuine. This is as close as I’m gonna get, I think.

Happy to hear your thoughts.*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*I hate to have to qualify this, but Mary has been such a divisive issue in the fandom; I don’t give a rat’s ass about being “right” and I love hearing different opinions and discussing this kind of stuff openly, but not if it veers into wank or character-hate.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments always appreciated. <3  
> (And if you're looking for more to read, I made a [fic index](http://shinysherlock.tumblr.com/post/105509221665) of my stuff by category which I hope is helpful.)


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